On Sunday, Shkreli tweeted that he came into contact with someone named "Daquan" and sent him a payment of $15 million via bitcoin to no result. The rest of his tweets were full of profanities and frantic ideas to get his money back.

Ultimately, he concluded that he would contact Sitoshi, the creator of bitcoin, to get his money back.

Though Shkreli remained confident he could get his money back, a $15 million dollar hit like this would throw salt on other financial wounds he's incured lately, like the loss of $40 million on his E-Trade account, or the heavy legal fees he will owe to his high-profile attorney.

Bitcoin price advance accelerated today and pushed to $400 (Bitstamp) and 2740 CNY. Although a price correction is overdue, the advance is relentless. This analysis is provided by xbt.social with a 3-hour delay. Read the full analysis here. Not a member? Join now and receive a $29 discount using the code CCN29. Bitcoin Price Analysis […]

ABUJA (Reuters) - The mood inside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is shifting from mistrust to a growing consensus that a decision must be reached on how to end the global oil price rout, Nigeria's oil minister told Reuters.

Oil prices have slumped by more than 70 percent to near $30 a barrel over the past 18 months as OPEC, led by top producer Saudi Arabia, sought to drive higher-cost producers out of the market by refusing to cut production despite a supply glut.

The price crash has crippled some economies that depend heavily on oil sales for income, such as Nigeria and Venezuela, and even Saudi Arabia is shoring up its resources to withstand the painful revenue drop.

"There's increased conversation going on. I think when we met in December ... they (OPEC members) were hardly talking to one another. Everyone was protecting their own positional logic," Nigerian oil minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachiwku told Reuters in an interview.

"Now I think you have cross-logic ... they are looking at what are the deficiencies, what is the optimum."

Struggling oil producers have made repeated calls for an emergency OPEC meeting, but Kachikwu said that the timing had not been right. The cartel's next regular meeting is in June.

"We haven't been sure that if we held those (emergency) meetings that we could actually walk away with some consensus," Kachikwu said.

"A lot of barrels are tumbling out of the market from non-OPEC members, so the Saudi philosophy is obviously working. But it's not influencing the price higher, which means that whether we like it or not some barrels are coming in from ... members and non-members to cover whatever is dropping out."

IEA WARNING

The International Energy Agency said on Jan. 19 that oil markets could be oversupplied by as much as 1.5 million barrels per day in the first half of 2016 and warned that prices could decline further as Iran's emergence from economic sanctions brings more crude to the market.

OPEC has declined to trim output without help from non-members, which so far have refused to participate. Russia, the world's biggest oil producer, has played coy by floating the idea of a cut without saying whether it would participate.

In an attempt to find a compromise, Venezuela's oil minister recently proposed a freeze on new production to place a cap on the growing glut while not requiring countries to surrender market share.

Kachikwu said that he would meet his Qatari and Saudi counterparts next week to discuss the situation.

"Have we got to the point where we can say there is a definite strategy? In terms of production reduction or freezing, no, I don't think we have got there. But there is a lot of energy (behind the idea)," Kachikwu said.

"As you get closer to the statutory (OPEC) meeting dates ... you are going to see a lot more people get active in those conversations and try to find solutions."

Scientists just confirmed the existence of gravitational waves -- actual ripples in the fabric of spacetime -- but who cares about unravelling the secrets of the universe, Valentine's Day is coming up. To pay respects to the most high holy of made-up...

Financial technology solutions company D+H has provided a whitepaper on what they consider to be the top milestones that blockchain technology must hit before it will be an accepted addition to the world of fintech. At large, international scale conferences, executives and those heavily involved in the financial and banking sector have painted with broad […]

The company is using a partnership with California-based brewer Lagunitas to help modernise its marketing strategy, Heineken's chief financial officer, Laurence Debroux, said in an interview.

Debroux said: "We’ve learned a lot from them in terms of marketing. Viral marketing, using social networks, you know these guys don’t do any TV advertising at all. They use a lot of digital, and we’re learning a lot here."

The two brewers first partnered in September last year, when Heineken acquired a 50% stake in Lagunitas.

Lagunitas is well-known in the USA for its eye-catching marketing strategy and branding. This includes a very cute dog, a Twitter account calling the company "Brewers of fine ales, mystery, and romance", viral videos galore, and a heavy focus on rock music. Its website includes a music section, and numerous in-jokes, random cartoons, and a "schwagshop" where you can buy beer.

That slightly off-the-wall, socially driven approach is in big contrast to Heineken, which, in terms of marketing and advertising, is best known for its huge global ad campaigns and major sponsorship deals for things like the Rugby World Cup, the UEFA Champions League, and even James Bond movies.

Heineken launched an multi-million pound ad campaign featuring Bond star Daniel Craig ahead of the latest film Spectre including the spectacularly produced TV ad "The Chase".

Debroux didn't give any details on specific campaigns that Heineken is working with Lagunitas on, but said that Heineken wants to "leverage what we’ve learnt with Lagunitas" and "bring the Lagunitas style to our way of business."

In return, Heineken is using its distribution network to "put Lagunitas on the shelf in other countries," she said.

So does this success mean more deals with craft breweries? Debroux was keen to emphasise the fact that despite Heineken's success in its partnership with Lagunitas, it doesn't necessarily mean that it is looking to aggressively expand its holdings in craft beer companies. She did, however, hint that the brewer is considering more deals.

“While our strategy is not to aggregate lots of craft brewers through M&A, that doesn’t mean we will not be doing that at all, it’s just not a strategy based around acquisitions.

“We’re always opportunistic, so you never know, I’m not saying we won’t do it, but that’s not the strategy.”

Asked whether Heineken has any mergers with either craft or traditional brewers of any sort coming up in the short term, Debroux declined to comment, but said that the company will “continue to be active” when it comes to M&A.

Bitcoin Classic, the Bitcoin implementation set to double Bitcoin's 1 megabyte block size limit by a hard fork, suffered a significant setback shortly after itsofficial release this week. A group of prominent exchanges, mining pools and other industry players organized under the “Bitcoin Roundtable” collective, stated publicly they will not switch to Bitcoin Classic for the present.

“We think any contentious hard-fork contains additional risks and potentially may result in two incompatible blockchain versions, if improperly implemented. To avoid potential losses for all bitcoin users, we need to minimize the risks. It is our firm belief that a contentious hard-fork right now would be extremely detrimental to the bitcoin ecosystem.”

Bitcoin Classic requires a 75 percent hash power activation threshold to activate a block size limit increase. Since the Bitcoin Roundtable collective accounts for more than 60 percent of hash power on the Bitcoin network today, activation seems unlikely unless some of the signatories reverse their positions.

Instead, the letter expresses support for an initial block size limit increase through Segregated Witness. This solution, which was made a first step in Bitcoin Core's scalability “roadmap,” offers an effective block size limit increase of .6 megabyte to 1 megabyte, along with additional improvements. As one of its main benefits, Segregated Witness can be rolled out as a soft fork, meaning only miners need to upgrade, rather than all nodes on the Bitcoin network.

The letter reads:

“We see the need for a modest block size increase in order to move the Bitcoin project forward, but we would like to do it with minimal risk, taking the safest and most balanced route possible. [Segregated Witness] is almost ready and we support its deployment as a step in scaling.”

Bitcoin Roundtable

Bitcoin Classic was firstintroduced a month ago by former Bitcoin Foundation board member Olivier Janssens,FinalHash CTO Marshall Long and Bitcoin miner and developer Jonathan Toomim. Shortly after Bitcoin XT lead developer Mike Hearn very publiclydenounced Bitcoin a failed experiment, the alternative implementation quickly gained support from major Bitcoin industry players including Coinbase, Blockchain and Bitstamp, as well as Bitcoin Core veterans Gavin Andresen and Jeff Garzik.

Several major mining pools initially endorsed Bitcoin Classic as well, but this support has been nuanced since. In the midst of a crisis atmosphere, mining pools and other companies organized several meetings across the world as well as online to discuss the situation. One of these meetings, theBitcoin Consensus Round Table organized by BitFury a day after the North American Bitcoin Conference in Miami, formed the basis of what later resulted in the Bitcoin Roundtable letter.

Speaking to Bitcoin Magazine, BitFury CIO Alex Petrov explained:

“BitFury was ready to support the Bitcoin Classic initiative – but this doesn't mean we planned to immediately start mining in favor of Bitcoin Classic or run Bitcoin Classic nodes. We do believe a hard fork block size limit increase must happen, but we ultimately want to avoid too much confrontation among miners, or a split within the community. This is not helping to move the Bitcoin project forward in any way. Rather, we should have a constructive conversation, start talking, get the perspectives from both sides of the debate. That way everyone can get a deeper understanding of potential issues, and we will be able to find solutions.”

This call for unity was seconded by cloud hashing service Genesis Mining CFO Marco Krohn.

“There is huge split in the community regarding the block size limit. The dispute has been going on for a while, first with Bitcoin XT and now between Bitcoin Classic and Bitcoin Core. But I think it's important to realize that both sides want Bitcoin to succeed; assuming anyone has bad intentions is not helpful,” Krohn said.

And, regarding concrete scaling proposals:

“Segregated Witness is a great idea, and almost everyone supports it. However, it's only a one-time capacity increase. There were several official and unofficial attempts to convince the Bitcoin Core development team to add a 2 megabyte block size limit increase hard fork to the roadmap, and be more specific about its implementation – but to no avail so far. The letter is an attempt to calm the situation, and to continue the constructive conversation with the Bitcoin Core development team. We are optimistic to find a solution which better addresses the needs of the businesses, miners and the rest of the community.”

China

Previously, a subset of the Chinese mining community – most notably including major ASIC-manufacturer and mining pool Bitmain/AntPool – offered Bitcoin Core analternativeproposal. Rather than switching to Bitcoin Classic, involved companies proposed to raise the block size limit to 2 megabytes, but with a 90 percent hash power support requirement. This sentiment was later echoed by Bitmain co-founder Jihan Wu, who said that AntPool willtest Bitcoin Classic butdoes not support rolling out a hard fork block size limit increase in the short term. And, on its ownInternet forum, Bitmain clarified it will not vow loyalty to any development team in specific:

“We applaud the [Bitcoin] Core team's increased communication and willingness to find compromise, but we do not wish to bind ourselves to a document that does not contain concrete technical proposals. We look forward to reviewing Bitcoin Core's updated roadmap and evaluating it on its technical merits, but we do not believe that this should be done to the exclusion of other development efforts.”

One of the driving forces behind the Bitcoin Roundtable letter, BTCC COO Samson Mow, acknowledged he does not expect a sudden switch to support Bitcoin Classic from mining pools, if there is any switch at all. Rather, he explained that the Bitcoin Roundtable has even broader support than the letter suggests.

“Bitcoin Classic often overstates their support, or misconstrues support for 2 megabytes or a hard fork as support for Bitcoin Classic,” Mow said. “Some companies not on the signatory list have given a commitment to not run Bitcoin Classic until we see if Bitcoin Core can adapt. They support the Bitcoin Roundtable, but they would have preferred a more strongly worded request to Core, and so have refrained from signing. That was the compromise we reached.”

Mow agreed the main goal right now is to get more clarity from Bitcoin Core on the proposed scalability roadmap, and said the Bitcoin Roundtable group will help to facilitate as needed.

Mow:

“Everyone is asking for a hard fork, but no one is talking about what exactly will go into the hard fork. Is it cleaning up the code a Segregated Witness soft fork left behind? Is it an increase to 2 megabytes or more? What will be the requirements for activation? We need to have those discussions together.”

Bitcoin Classic

While the Bitcoin Roundtable letter was a setback, Janssens, listed as “facilitator” in the Bitcoin Classic release notes, has not given up hope for Bitcoin Classic.Addressing visitors of ther/btc subreddit, predominantly frequented by bitcoiners in favor of a hard fork block size increase, Janssens made clear that Bitcoin Classic intends to remain active – even if it does not achieve a hash rate majority in the short term.

“Classic is here to stay. We finally have a great competing client with a lot of traction,” Janssens said. “Don't let the recent letter discourage you. We still have double digits coming on board of Classic soon, and the rest will follow quickly when the fee event will take place in the next weeks. We cannot run away from reality, and the time for more talk and debate is over. The block size limit will be hit very soon.”

Additionally, at least one mining pool so far stated public support for Bitcoin Classic. Slush Pool, accounting for some 4 percent of total hash power, has committed to let individual miners vote on a potential block size limit increase.

“I still like Bitcoin XT or even solutions which remove block size limit completely, but consider it a politically dead solution, so there's no point in pushing it over and over. I therefore support Bitcoin Classic, as it seems to be a trade-off for both camps. And I'm generally not afraid of hard forks much; I'm even a proponent of regular hard forks – say, once a year – which would be able to reflect recent development in [the] field of cryptocurrencies.”

And the Bitcoin Roundtable signatories, in the end, did not completely exclude a switch to Bitcoin Classic at some point in the future either. If after three weeks the Bitcoin Core development team has not addressed concerns raised by the letter signatories, some of them might still opt to make a switch.

BitFury's Petrov said:

“We don't want to raise any aggression or conflicts with either the Bitcoin Core or Bitcoin Classic development teams. Quite the opposite: We would like to build a communication bridge between them. We are just searching for the most optimal and efficient decision – between all voices and with the least risk. We already set the date for next meeting in the end of February, and we would like to discuss the issue with the Bitcoin Classic team to hear their perspective as well. Right now it seems more logical to roll-out Segregated Witness first, and prepare for a hard fork after that. But the Roundtable Group is comprised of many companies and people with differing views, and as initiators we don't want to make any decisions ourselves.”